Isabelle's POV
Getting to the Schuyler estate was a total nightmare. I tried stopping three different taxis, but the second I told them the address, they'd look at my uniform and give me a strange look. "Sorry, honey," one guy said, not even looking me in the eye. "Never heard of a Schuyler estate." He sped off before I could even pull up the GPS.
I texted Adrien about it. "Taxis aren't allowed past the main ridge. They're paid to play dumb. You're gonna have to hike it", he texted back. He sent over a map with a route that looked like a death march through the woods.
By the time I reached the perimeter, I was sweating through my clothes. I ditched my blazer in a nearby bush. I didn't need the crest announcing my name and found the service door Adrien had mentioned. He stayed on the line the whole time, texting directions about guard rotations and security camera blind spots.
Finally, I reached the private library. But there was a keypad lock. Of course, Seraphina wouldn't leave her dirty secrets out in the open.
Me: You didn't tell me there's a keypad at the main door.
Adrien: That's new. They must have upgraded last month.
Me: Can you bypass it or what? I don't have all night.
Adrien: Give me a second. I'm trying to bridge the local server.
I was staring so hard at my phone screen, waiting for those numbers to pop up, that I didn't notice the person standing directly behind me.
Then the world went black.
A sour-smelling cloth slammed over my face. I tried to twist away, trying to remember the self-defense skills Dmitri taught me, but something hard cracked against the back of my skull.
I woke up to the smell of damp stones and rust. Water was hammering against a tin roof. My head felt like it was splitting open. I was zip-tied to a metal chair, the plastic biting into my skin. We were in some massive, empty warehouse.
"You should've remained in the orphanage, Isabelle."
Lady Schuyler stepped out of the dark. She looked perfect. Silk dress, not a hair out of place. She had two men with her, blank-faced goons. She held out a silver pen and a piece of paper.
"Sign it," she said. She put the paper on a rusty crate. "A full confession that you made everything up. You transfer all Valois rights to the merger. You do this and you walk out. You can even finish school somewhere far away. We'll call it even."
I tasted copper in my mouth. I spat blood on the floor. "And if I don't?"
"Then you'll remain a ghost. But this time, you'll be six feet under the ground," Her eyes were like shards of ice. "You are just a tragic kid who went crazy like her mother. The wedding is happening. The merger is happening. You're just a speed bump. Give up the boy. Give up the name."
I looked at the paper. My brain was foggy from the hit, but the pain helped me focus. I felt a sharp edge on the metal chair. I started moving my hands, slow and agonizing, rubbing the sharp metal against the zip tie.
"I'm not signing shit," I said. "I know about everything, Seraphina. The cat is out of the bag. You were supposed to be her best friend, yet you turned a blind eye to her pleas till she was killed. That wasn't enough for you, you stole life and made her daughter's life miserable!"
She gave me a thin, dead smile. "Pathetic. Just like Elena. She wouldn't listen either. See where this will lead you."
Hearing her say my mother's name in that voice... that was it. The plastic snapped. My right hand was free.
I shoved myself out of the chair and grabbed a heavy metal pipe leaning against the crate. I swung at the thick power line running to the main breaker box.
The connection blew in a spray of white sparks. The lights died with a loud snap leaving a total pitch-black darkness.
Dmitri's POV
She was gone.
I'd turned the whole Academy upside down. The tower, the music hall, the library. Nothing. The dread in my chest was a screaming hole. The silence was driving me insane.
My phone buzzed. Adrien.
Adrien: I think I messed up. I can't track Isabelle. Her phone signal died near the Schuyler estate. Dmitri, they've got her.
Me: What are you talking about?
Adrien: She told me she found new proof and needed to go to the Schuyler estate immediately. I messed up. I should have told you but I thought she had it under control.
The message blew up in my head.
I saw red. I was already moving toward the garage where Adrien kept his car. Rules, my father, the consequences, none of it mattered. If they touched a single hair on her body, I was going to burn everything down.
I got to the garage just as his engine started. I ripped the door open. I reached in, grabbed Adrien by his shirt and hauled him halfway out of the seat.
"You let her go alone." I sounded like a different person. My voice was low and mean. "You know what Seraphina is. You sent her into that house by herself."
Adrien was white as a sheet. "She told me not to help! She blocked the trackers! I thought she was just getting files!"
I gripped him harder. I could hear the fabric tearing. I saw the look in his eyes and I didn't care.
"If she's hurt," I said, getting right in his face, "I won't stop at ruining The Schuylers, I'll add you to the list. Now. Where did the signal die?"
He swallowed hard. "The old docks. Warehouse 7. The Schuylers used it for smuggling years ago."
I let go. He slumped back into the seat, gasping for air.
"Drive," I barked, sliding into the passenger side. "Now. Call everyone you know who isn't on my father's payroll. I want eyes on that building."
As the car tore out of the garage, I looked at my hands. They were shaking. Not out of fear. I was ready to kill something. They took what was mine. They took the only thing that mattered.
They were about to learn the real Volkov lesson: you don't steal from a predator. You're just borrowing and I collect the interest in blood.